The rise of the Afrikaners as a politicised ethnic group that captured the state, under the leadership
of the National Party, and of Afrikaans as a public language was one of the most prominent features
of twentieth century South African history. During the 1970s NP rule started to come under severe pressure as a result of its apartheid policy and it handed over power in 1994. Over the next twenty
years the civil service was radically transformed, English became the de facto official language.
Afrikaners not only had to deal with the sudden loss of state power but a declining demograpic
base. Afrikaans-medium secondary schools and universities had to admit large numbers who
preferred to receive their instruction in English. An opportunity in 2001 to safeguard Afrikaans at
two universities was squandered. In technical and educational colleges the state simply phased
out Afrikaans instruction . Whites in the upper echelons became largely selfemployed, while those
in the lower echelons managed to find a job but not necessarily at the level required for the traditional
“white” standard of living. Afrikaans-speakers represent more than half of the Democratic Alliance’s
support base, but the party’s efforts to capture the black vote made it unwilling to speak up on
Afrikaans as a public language or aggressive affirmative action in the public sector and large
corporations. While Afrikaans has flourished in the cultural sphere, particularly at festivals, the
publication of fiction, and in pay television channels, it is losing ground steadily at university level
in face of the cultural totalitarianism of the ruling party and the failure of senior academics,
administrators and university coucils to back up the language. The demise of both Afrikaans as
public language and the Afrikaners as an ethnic group has become a real possibilty over the medium
term.

As a communication axis between Pretoria and Johannesburg the Old Pretoria Main Road always served as a linear force of attraction of urban development. This force was subsequently strengthened, first by the construction ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Urban areas in South Africa have been growing rapidly over the last twenty years. The focus of the study is comparing the growth and development of those parts of cities located in traditional authority ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The term ‘gentrification’ was first coined by sociologist Ruth Glass in 1964 as she studied the
inner-city neighbourhoods of London. She found that neighbourhoods experiencing urban decay
would be ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Invasions of alien species into non-native environments pose one of the largest, but
least addressed international threats to biodiversity, both within natural ecosystems and
agricultural settings. It ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The multifaceted land degradation problem and its associated manifold impacts have attracted
research from different disciplines, resulting in varying definitions of the concept. However, most
researchers ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Bush encroachment in savannas leads to reduced diversity, productivity and profitability of
rangelands. This holds important implications for the livestock and eco-tourism industries, as
well as for ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Twenty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in
the world. Socio-economic polarisation is entrenched by the lack of social capital and interactions
across ...

Small farm dams (< 20 ha) in the Western Cape Province provide adequate water conditions for
intensive cage production of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). A major environmental concern of
cage aquaculture, however, ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During the period 2006-2012, the Langkloof area, situated in the Eden District Municipality, suffered severely from environmental shocks and social stress including drought, flooding, hail, wildfire, ...

The historical distribution of Cape mountain zebra included Klein Namaqualand, the Kamiesberg region, and the Van Rhynsdorp, Piketberg, and Clanwilliam districts in the W, the Cape Mountain ranges in the S and SW, and the ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This reflexive study of responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic was set in Stellenbosch,
a town in the Cape Winelands that, with its diverse but disjointed population, in many
ways is a microcosm of South ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The historical Apartheid policy caused a lack ofinterest in metropolitan management
in South Africa. Metropolitan management mainly focussed on limiting the
accessibility ofthe non-white population to ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since 1994 South Africa has undergone numerous social and political transformations.
Transformation in this country has different meanings for different people, depending on
the individuals perspective. ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims to explore the existing knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among Congolese refugees living in Cape Town in order to create awareness and suggest possible measures to ...